1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to directed fluid cleaning apparatus and more particularly to a portable apparatus for providing intra-oral pulsating liquid jets for dental hygiene purposes. The invention further relates to pulsating liquid valves coupled to an output port of a liquid reservoir comprising a cylindrical enclosure and manually operable piston combination.
2. Background
There are many applications where it is desirable to remove small amounts of material or debris from crevices and small confined volumes in order to provide a "clean" surface. One such application is in the area of dental hygiene where it is necessary to remove food debris to reduce acidity and plaque formation.
Floss and brush and paste combinations have been the traditional tools for cleaning teeth and providing proper dental hygiene. However, even with great care these tools have failed to address all of the periodontal needs of the user. Most notably, brushing and flossing are generally inadequate for cleaning the root portions of teeth adjacent to gums and other tissue. This gives rise to decay and several forms of periodontal disorders. While some advance has been gained in alternate brushing techniques to improve cleaning, a normal toothbrush can in fact damage the thinner tooth enamel in the root area if used excessively. The application of floss to lower tooth areas proves very difficult and time consuming for most users, which dissuades long term use.
The primary alternative has been frequent visits to a dentist where specialized high speed brushes and cleansing compounds are used for cleaning and removing built up plaque and debris. However, this is a time consuming, expensive, and inadequate approach in terms of prevention of the onset of decay. Therefore, there has been a long standing need to develop improved, easy to use, tools or techniques for daily dental hygiene to provide preventative care for a user.
In response to this need, a new technique involving pulsed water jets was developed to remove material from between teeth and some dental work structures. One such device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,576,294 issued to W. B. Baldwin in Apr. 27, 1971. This patent discloses a cleansing device which utilizes a pressurized liquid in a reservoir which is then pumped up through a series of valves and out through a nozzle. The device is constructed so that liquid is pumped in discrete pulses which offers an improved method of cleansing the teeth and gums of a device user. Other devices have been developed to improve upon the spray nozzle and to provide massaging effects for the gums. One such device is U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,983 issued to P. J. Jousson on June 19, 1973.
However, these devices rely on electrically powered pumps to create pulsed liquid streams. The electric motors represent a safety problem and require specialized grounding and seating techniques to decrease or prevent the hazard of shock in a bathroom area where the device is typically used. In addition, the use of an electric motor means that the device is limited to use in a fixed household location having an electric outlet.
The present pulse liquid devices also utilize small basins to hold water or other cleansing liquids which require O-ring seals, clamps and other structures to interface with the electric pump. Plastic tubing or other liquid conductors are required to transfer the liquid to a nozzle tip which is used to direct the liquid into the users mouth. This results in a strong and useful, but totally inflexible and immobile liquid jet cleaning system. It is necessary to keep all of the interlocking and interfacing pieces clean from any build up of sediment, as present in many hard water systems, or other debris in order to keep them functioning properly. All of the parts and pieces required to compose such a system also take up a rather significant amount of room which can be excessive for a small bath area. All of these features result in a device that is chiefly inconvenient and not portable.
Since proper dental hygiene is equally, if not more so important, when a person is constantly traveling or in remote locations, it would be an improvement in the art to have a pulsating liquid dental cleansing device that is portable. In addition, it would be extremely desirable to provide a dental hygiene cleansing system which is easy to use and maintain, or even disposable.
The drawbacks, such as portability, size, and complexity, in dental cleaning applications are also found in other cleaning applications. Therefore, it is also desirable to have a compact, portable, and possibly disposable, liquid dispensing cleaning apparatus.